What these ships mean to Navy or ex Navy / Marines. My Dad was on the Essex in the late 1950s as a gunner. He was heart broken to find it had been scrapped in the early 1970s. Those ships are not a station but a HOME! It's why I felt sad when I visited my old Tech School base....Chanute, Ill and my duty station , Eaker AFB in Blytheville, Ark. It was a drag seeing those bases closed for 25 plus years and rotting.
By the way, around 1978 or 79, I built the Monogram plastic model of the Kitty Hawk. Turned out well.
